WTF South Korea: The Circle (2003)

 After a good year sitting on my shelf, I finally watched this Film.  I found a random, mystery Film for $1 and said 'I'll watch it.'
* 1 Year Later *

So, what is The Circle?  This 2003 Film from South Korea is about a killer put on trial, but nothing is quite so simple.  The Plot involves reincarnation, lost memories and insanity.  Is the man truly insane?  Is he innocent by reason of Mental Defect?  Why didn't this Plot come up on Law & Order?

The DVD Box acted like this Film was the next Seven, so what is this?

To find out, read on...

A man is found with a dead body looking all sorts of creepy.

He admits to being the killer of 6 women in the area, but then reneges on it when he's questioned by the D.A. (Kang Soo-Youn).  

She beats him up, but then he gropes her.
I'm already confused.

The Court Appointed Lawyer begins to work for him- after he gets a headbutt from his client.

Legal Cases are weird in South Korea.

He looks up the guy's history and a woman in his life.  What's his secret?

Apparently, he's the subject/host of the reincarnation of a 1930's Painter.

That means he's...innocent?

The case plays out in Court as the D.A. also looks up his past.

She pokes holes in the defense as the Client seems too crazy for his own good.

She gets him convicted, so this 40-minute Film is over, right?

She begins to see 'ghosts' of the people in the past lives and now the Film just wants to tell the story of this murder case that happened in the 1930s.

This feels like something we'd see on Prestige TV in 2023, but this was 20 years ago.

So what is the true story involving the crime in the '30s?
What about the guy in the present (of 2003)?

To find out, watch the Film.  I can't really explain it, so...enjoy.

So, um, yeah, this is not what I was expecting- at all.  The Film is at first trying to be darkly comedic with the Cops beating up the guy.  Next, it becomes weird as they find conjoined body parts in jars- that will eventually get explained.  So far, this could pass for some sort of tonally weird Seven-style Film.

Now reincarnation comes up, is discussed in Court as a legal defense and then the Defense Case hinges upon them proving that he's really hosting a second spirt inside of his body.

What in the freaking what now?!?

To be fair, the weird David Lynch in South Korea meets David Fincher thing is not done poorly.  They tell a (strange) story pretty well.  I just couldn't follow the weird, random twists and turns of what the Film was actually trying to be about.

The whole flashback parts are really odd as we first see older people playing the survivors and then people from the Present are playing the people in the flashback.  Does having a reincarnated spirit only work if you're identical twins?  

I'm sure it's just a conceit, but it is a damn strange one!

I'll be honest- I don't know if The Circle really succeeds at what it was going for, as I'm more confused after watching it than I was from when I first read the DVD Box about a year ago.  If you're South Korean and this makes sense to you, let me know.  The Director only has this one credit AFAIK, so I'm going to guess not.

I'll leave you with this Poster that both helps explain things...and doesn't explain a damn thing.

Next up, I continue to chip away what my Review Collection.  Maybe I'll stick with a Crime Film that won't be, well, this.  Stay tuned...